Getting Started

This page takes you from a clean Ubuntu 22.04 / ROS 2 Humble machine to a running demo.

Prerequisites

Host packages

# Ubuntu 22.04 / ROS 2 Humble
sudo apt install python3-pip python3-venv tmux
pip3 install pika redis requests pymongo psutil

Docker network

All containers attach to one shared network:

docker network create rmf2_broker_rmf-network

Stop conflicting host services

The stack runs its own brokers, so stop any system-wide ones:

sudo systemctl stop mosquitto.service 2>/dev/null || true
sudo systemctl stop rabbitmq-server.service 2>/dev/null || true

Get the source

Each module is a separate repository cloned next to ros_industrial_demo under ~/ros_industrial_ws:

mkdir -p ~/ros_industrial_ws
cd ~/ros_industrial_ws

# Clone repositories (legacy branch)
git clone -b legacy https://github.com/ros-industrial/rmf_industrial.git ros_industrial_demo
git clone -b legacy https://github.com/ros-industrial/vda5050_core.git vda5050_fiware_repo
git clone -b legacy https://github.com/ros-industrial/res_mapf.git mapf_unified_repo
git clone -b legacy https://github.com/ros-industrial/rmf2_task_orchestrator.git task_orchestrator_repo
git clone -b legacy https://github.com/ros-industrial/rmf2_broker.git rmf2_broker_repo

Build the images

# VDA5050 FIWARE Bridge
cd ~/ros_industrial_ws/vda5050_fiware_repo
docker build -t vda5050_fiware_repo-vda5050_fiware:latest .

# MAPF Unified (includes map server, solver, executor)
cd ~/ros_industrial_ws/mapf_unified_repo
docker build -t mapf_unified:latest .

# Task Orchestrator
cd ~/ros_industrial_ws/task_orchestrator_repo/
docker build -t rmf2_task_orchestrator:latest .

# IOCS Broker Stack (Scorpio, Redis, RabbitMQ, Postgres)
cd ~/ros_industrial_ws/rmf2_broker_repo
docker  build -f ./Containers/rmf-base.Dockerfile . -t mctdis/rmf-base
docker compose build

TIP

First-time builds are slow: MAPF ~10–15 min, VDA5050 ~5–10 min.

Launch the environment

The recommended launcher runs each startup step in its own tmux pane and gates on a health check before moving on:

cd ~/ros_industrial_ws/ros_industrial_demo/launch
./start_environment_tmux.sh

# tear down (if you have trouble starting, run a teardown first)
# ./stop_environment_tmux.sh          # graceful, reverse order, kills the tmux session
# ./stop_environment_tmux.sh --hard   # also force-removes leftover containers and frees the ports below

Port conflicts

The stack publishes the host ports below. If a previous run — or any other process (your own Postgres, Redis, RabbitMQ, Mosquitto, etc.) — is already holding one of them, startup will fail. Before starting, make sure they are free.

The launcher gates on four of these; a conflict on any gate port halts startup:

Step	Service	Gate port	Other host ports bound
Dashboard	rmf2-launcher	8083	—
Broker (IOCS)	Swagger / API	8000	1026 (Orion), 9090 (Scorpio), 5432 (Postgres), 5431 (logger DB), 6379 (Redis), 5672 (RabbitMQ), 15672 (RabbitMQ UI), 27016 (Mongo), 8001 (connector), 8002 (event mgr), 8003 (RMF proxy), 8004 (logger), 8084 (monitor), 9999 (nginx proxy)
MQTT	Mosquitto	—	1883–1888
MAPF (unified)	solver	8888	7073 (map server), 6333 (AGV state), 1932 (ADG MQTT), 1933 (MRS MQTT)
Task Orchestrator	HTTP API	2727	—
Devices (VDA5050)	FIWARE bridge	—	1928

You MUST ensure every port below is free before starting — each command should return nothing. Stop or remove whatever shows up.

sudo lsof -i :8083 -i :8000 -i :8001 -i :8002 -i :8003 -i :8004 -i :8084 \
          -i :8888 -i :2727 -i :1026 -i :9090 -i :9999 \
          -i :5431 -i :5432 -i :5672 -i :15672 -i :6379 -i :27016 \
          -i :7073 -i :6333 \
          -i :1883 -i :1884 -i :1885 -i :1886 -i :1887 -i :1888 \
          -i :1928 -i :1932 -i :1933

What it does, in order (see Launch scripts for the full table):

Download & Launch the warehouse simulation

Download and unpack the latest UE5 simulation build:

cd ~/ros_industrial_ws
curl -OL https://downloads.rmf-industrial.org/UE5Demos/RMF2_SIM_20260611.zip
unzip RMF2_SIM_20260611.zip
mv RMF2_SIM_20260611 ~/ros_industrial_ws/simulation

You can launch it standalone to verify it runs (the launcher also starts it as one of its steps):

cd ~/ros_industrial_ws/simulation
./Linux/RMF2_SIM.sh

The simulation starts in fullscreen mode by default.

• Move: W A S D
• Toggle fullscreen: Alt + Enter
• Map marker: M

TIP

See Troubleshooting if the simulation doesn't run as expected. Some environments (e.g. newer Ubuntu releases or mixed integrated/discrete GPU machines) may need extra steps.

Send a Demo Task to the Task Orchestrator

Publish a parallel workflow to the Task Orchestrator. This workflow forks into multiple robot tasks and joins when all robots complete their work.

cd ~/ros_industrial_ws/ros_industrial_demo/test_scripts/taskorchestrator
python3 send_workflow.py